Helping a Brave Widower Know He's Not Alone

Yacov lived through some of the most harrowing chapters of Jewish history. As a teenager, he lived under Nazi occupation, and his mother's entire family was brutally murdered.

By the end of the war, Yacov was fighting for the Soviets and had risen to the rank of officer. Despite his bravery, three years after the war ended, Yacov was kicked out of both the military academy where he was studying and the communist party, a victim of Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic purges.

Although Yacov was able to clear his name after Stalin's death, he never returned to the military, working instead as an educator, struggling to raise his family on a meager salary.

Today Yacov, now an 88-year-old widower, continues to struggle. His pension of $383 a month does not cover rent and heat, let alone medicine and food. In addition, numerous health problems – including stomach issues, fading eyesight, and severe heart problems – challenge Yacov every day.

Tens of thousands of elderly Holocaust survivors, like Yacov, are in deep distress as winter approaches. The plight of these precious men and women is especially heartbreaking. They have survived the absolute worst evil humans could do to others. And today too many are isolated, lonely, and feeling abandoned.